Technology

Everyone Agrees on the Need to Do Something about Deepfakes, Just Not how to Do It

The BSA Software Alliance, among the heavy hitting tech industry associations in Washington, counts a number of major AI companies among its members, including Adobe and Microsoft. But this week it plans to release a policy statement urging Congress to “take steps” to protect artists from the spread of unauthorized, AI-generated deepfakes. The statement, provided to RightsTech in advance of release, lists eight key principles, including creating a new right for artists to authorize or prevent the commercial dissemination of digital replicas of their name, image, likeness or voice, and prohibiting the commercial trafficking in any algorithm, software, technology or service that has the “primary purpose” of creating or disseminating such replica “knowing that this act was unauthorized.”

Adobe Revising Terms of Use to Clarify Content Licensing, AI, and Privacy

The confusion and anger surrounding an Adobe Terms of Use update last week caused Adobe to revisit its language and communications at large. Beyond a blog post late last week, Adobe today published another blog post, announcing plans for direct communications with customers and an updated Terms of Use.

Source: Adobe Revising Terms of Use to Clarify Content Licensing, AI, and Privacy

The AI Arms Race to Combat Fake Images Is Even—For Now

The recent and dramatic increase in AI-generated images is blurring the lines of what’s real and fake—and underscores the need for more tools to discern between the two. In a recent study, researchers in Italy analyzed a suite of AI models designed to identify fake images, finding these current methods to be fairly effective. But the results also point to an AI arms race to keep pace with evolving generative AI tools.

Source: The AI Arms Race to Combat Fake Images Is Even—For Now

‘Adobe does not train Firefly Gen AI models on customer content’: Company responds to backlash

Adobe has clarified its Terms of Use update, which initially led users to believe their unpublished work was fodder for AI training. Adobe says it does not train its Firefly generative AI models on user content and that it “will never assume ownership of a customer’s work.” Backlash snowballed this week after Adobe users were notified of an update to its Terms of Use poli

Source: ‘Adobe does not train Firefly Gen AI models on customer content’: Company responds to backlash

Stability AI debuts new Stable Audio Open for sound design

Stability AI is perhaps best known for its stable diffusion text-to-image generation AI technology, but that’s only one part of the company’s broader portfolio, which includes multiple models for code, text and audio. In Sept. 2023, Stability AI first publicly launched Stable Audio, as a text-to-audio generative AI tool.  Stable Audio 2.0 was released on April 3 bringing more clarity and length to the generated audio.

Source: Stability AI debuts new Stable Audio Open for sound design

YouTube Processed a Billion Content ID Copyright Claims in Six Months 

YouTube’s latest Transparency Report shows that fewer copyright holders used the Content ID system to protect their works. Despite the modest decline, the claim volume continues to grow. For the first time, the number of processed claims exceeded one billion in the six-month reporting period.

Source: YouTube Processed a Billion Content ID Copyright Claims in Six Months * TorrentFreak

AI, Antitrust and Monopsony

Two years ago, the antitrust division of the U.S. Justice Department successfully sued to block Penguin Random House’s proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster, which would have reduced publishing’s Big Five houses to four. While PRH offered all the usual arguments about greater scale and efficiencies benefitting consumers through lower retail prices for books, the department focused its case on the deal’s potential impact on authors, rather than consumers.

In its briefs, DOJ invoked the rarely discussed doctrine of monopsony, the inverse of monopoly, wherein a few dominant buyers are able to dictate and drive down the prices sellers are able to charge. In this case, the department was concerned with the impact on author’s advances of having one fewer dominant buyer in the market for manuscripts.

News publishers try to sic the government on Google AI

Google’s pivot to artificial intelligence has news publishers freaking out—and running to the government. “Agency intervention is necessary to stop the existential threat Google poses to original content creators,” the News/Media Alliance wrote in a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It asked the agencies to use antitrust authority “to stop Google’s latest expansion of AI Overviews.”

Source: News publishers try to sic the government on Google AI

ITN signs deal to protect video archive from AI and license content

Broadcast news production company ITN has become the first UK news organization to announce a deal seeking to safeguard its archive from the threat of AI. The deal with tech company Open Origins will see every one of ITN‘s more than a million video clips of news footage validated and secured using blockchain technology.

Source: ITN signs deal to protect video archive from AI and license content

Detecting machine-written content in scientific articles

The recent surge in popularity of AI tools such as ChatGPT is forcing the science community to reckon with its place in scientific literature. Prestigious journals such as Science and Nature have attempted to restrict or prohibit AI use in submissions, but are finding it difficult to enforce because of how challenging it is becoming to detect machine-generated language.

Source: Detecting machine-written content in scientific articles

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